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Chapter 116.5: —Side Karen and Athena— Difficulty Capturing Spirits

 

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Karen and Athena were in the plains west of the town.

In this huge wide plain, they were confronting a huge green colored tornado.
The tornado was slowly but surely approaching the town.

「The color matches, but this is the spirit?」
「Yes, this is proof of its magic power. The wind spirit has a light green color. This makes it certain that it is in there.」
「Karen really knows a lot. So, how are we supposed to catch it?」
「Normally we’d counter attack with magic to get the spirit to acknowledge our power but……」

Karen looked at the giant green tornado.
It was many times larger than them. It was the first time she’d seen a wind spirit grow to this extent.

「At this point, I think you and I need to do a full powered attack to somehow weaken the tornado and in that gap use the pendant to seal it.」
「I see……then let’s do our best.」

Athena said, and the look in her eyes changed. She went from smiling and happy to completely serious.

「For now, I should just attack with strong magic right?」
「Yes, I will match my attacks with you so please go ahead.」

Athena nodded and took out a wand from her bag.

「I’m not as strong as Onee-sama but……I am a quasi-Arch mage after all. Let’s go with the greatest firepower. Burn and Burst Artillery of Flames —「Fire Cannon」—」

When she finished the chant a large ball of flames appeared at the tip of her wand and flew towards the tornado. Then,

「I will match you. 「Mixed Breath」!」
PICTURE

 

Karen gathered an ashen colored aura in her mouth and it suddenly blasted forth with shocking speed.
The ashen aura caught up to the ball of flames and coiled around it, pushing it forward with greater speed and strength.

Then the ball of flames boosted by the gray aura slammed into the green tornado.

「——!?」

The green tornado stopped for a moment and its force weakened.
But, it still did not cease its advance.

「Haaa……..haa…….did it, work?」

Athena’s face was colored with fatigue.
She had put a lot of magic power into that fireball so it was no wonder.

……..Truly…this spirit had become very strong.

Karen had also put quite a lot of power in the breath she shot out.
One shot was enough to cause a cold sweat.
However, she was still in a better state then Athena.

「Fuu…….not yet Princess Athena. It worked, but the true form of the spirit hasn’t emerged. We need one more shot.」
「D-Daichi-oniisan did this so easily….but yeah…I’ll work hard. —「Fire Cannon」!!」

Once again Karen and Athena combined their attacks.

Ignoring their fatigue they fired off an attack just as powerful as the previous one and it pierced through the tornado. Then,

「Guuuuu………」

From the center of the tornado the green, semitransparent spirit looked at them aggressively.
It seems as though they’d succeeded in breaking through the defensive tornado.
But in exchange…

「Haa……….haa…….Even with Karen…ku…ah, it’s……quite hard….」

Athena sank to the ground.
She had just used a huge amount of magic power.

「Can you stand?」
「Y-yes, it’s been a while since I’ve had to use this much magic power. Sorry Karen.」
「No please don’t worry about it. Normally to capture a spirit you would need quite a lot of military force. Even as a dragon, you couldn’t let your guard down.」
「Is that so……that means that Daichi-oniisan is really amazing huh…」

Athena’s words made Karen think back to Daichi.

……certainly, he was completely outside the norm.

She had heard here and there about the events with the other Dragon Kings and how he was looking after them…just from that you couldn’t really believe he was human.
Even gathering spirits…it was thanks to him they could do it this quickly…

….for there to be such a reliable man…..

This time was a delightful surprise.
However, completely pushing everything onto him was simply being spoiled. That was no good.

They should do what they had to do…what they could do, Karen thought.

「Alrigth, at this point it should be weakened enough. Even if by force, let’s go seal it.」
「Guuuuu………」

Karen took out the pendant from her chest and approached the angry looking spirit.
The wind was still whipping around powerfully and she could feel strong power as she wielded the pendant,

「Now, be sealed!」

The spirit’s body was taken into the pendant.

「Fuu~…….now we’ve gathered all of them!」
「Yes, the Four Spirits are complete.」
「I wouldn’t have believed that we’d finish while the festival is still going on…..but thank goodness!」

Athena laughed brightly.
Just as she’d said, they didn’t know how many months this would take, but it ended within a few days.

「…….really, we have to thank Daichi.」
「Un, we need to get a lot done once we get back to the First Royal Capital…….when we get back it’ll be busy. I also still have special training with Karen too.」
「Fufu, that’s right.」

but as they talked…

「…..hm?」

Karen felt her chest getting hotter.
What? She thought and looked down to see the black pendant. A black aura was leaking out of the pendant into her body.

……the spirits’ power is leaking……..?

Furthermore, it wasn’t just one of them. The fire, water, earth, and wind powers were all leaking.

「No, this is….the four spirits going wild! They’re trying to enter my body……!?」

With her many experiences as a Dragon King, she could understand the spirits’ movements.
They were trying to utilize her body and her power to go rampage around.

…….The spirits grew too much and the pendant cannot hold all of it…..

The instant she understood she began coping with it.

「Princess Athena. Bad news.」
「Eh?」

Karen calmly showed what was happening to the confused Athena.
Athena’s eyes flashed with shock at the distorted appearance of the pendant.

「U-ummm….what’s happening?」
「Right now the four spirits are mixing their power and going berserk with their power leaking. This is power that would normally be used to protect the country.」

This was the original way of using the Royal Family’s pendant.
However, it had begun the process on its own.
This power, if activated here, would instead harm the people of Prussia.

「Right now, I am sealing the energy within my body. So for now the power has not run wild. In the meantime, please go to the town and inform Dianeia……to evacuate the citizens, call the people who can fight against the spirits…….and call the other Dragon Kings…..」

The spirits’ power continued to pour into her body.
She was resisting, but she felt as if her ability to think and consciousness was slowly being eroded.

「K-Karen…..」
「Princess Athena…you need to go…..—-Hurry!」
「I got it! {Emergency Teleport}!」

Athena nodded and immediately disappeared.
Then, the woman who was left alone in the middle of the plains fell to her knees.

「Now…how long can I last against the power of all four of them…..」

She thought of herself as strong even among the Dragon Kings.

However, when pitted against the power of all four of them working together…she couldn’t put up much opposition.
Once she realized that, she did what she could.

「Well, until the other Dragon Kings come……I have to…..try and shave off their power…..as much as possible…….」

And so Karen collapsed on the ground…and lost consciousness.

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